MOUNT BIELAWSKI

_California Department of Forestry

October 15, 1921: "Tuesday, October 11, 1921. The board now meets pursuant to adjournment. Present--Supervisors Lewis, Moore, Sinnott, Wyman and Rostron and the clerk. In the matter of the Construction of a Fire Lookout Station at or near Castle Rock in Santa Cruz County: Mr. A.H. Oswald, representing the state board of forestry, appears before the board and requests that the county of Santa Cruz guarantee the sum of Five Hundred Dollars for the construction of a fire lookout station at or near Castle Rock in Santa Cruz county, said fire lookout station to be in constant operation during fire months, observing fires, receiving reports of fires, and investigating the same, summoning and furnishing aid in the extinguishing of fire within District 10 as noted in State Forester's report comprising a portion of the county of Santa Cruz, and a portion of the county of San Mateo. On motion of Supervisor Wyman, duly seconded by Supervisor Sinnott, it is ordered that Santa Cruz county guarantee the sum of $500.00 for the construction of said station." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

October 20, 1921: "Mr. Burton recommended the endorsement by the chamber of the state forestry department now installing a permanent state fire lookout station at Castle Rock, in this county, and that an interest be taken in the present action of the state university in studying reforestation of second-growth redwood in this county." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

May 13, 1922: "Erection of a lookout tower on Mt. Beilewski, Santa Cruz county, and the construction of a telephone line from Boulder Creek through the California redwood park to the proposed tower are announced by Assistant State Forester W.B. Rider, at Sacramento. According to Rider the construction of this tower and telephone line is the greatest step that has ever been made towards proper fire protection in this part of the state, and it will be an important factor in perpetuating the great scenic beauty for which this section is famous. The construction of this tower and telephone line was made possible by what might be called 'a six power agreement,' the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo each appropriating $500 for the purchase and delivery of the material necessary for the construction of the tower, the California highway commission and the California redwood park commission each appropriating practically the same amount for the purchased and delivery of the material for the construction of the telephone line, and the state board of forestry agreeing to furnish labor and supervise the construction of both the tower and the telephone line. The tower, which is to be sixty feet high, will be erected on Mt. Bielewski one of the most commanding points of Castle Rock ridge, and will allow the lookout man stationed there to see not only over practically all of the California Redwood park, but also to see the greater portions of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

May 15, 1922: "State Forester Pratt has announced the appointment of fourteen men who will act as forest fire rangers and lookout men during the summer season, beginning June 1: A.H. Oswald has been named for Santa Cruz county, with A.E. Smead as lookout at Mount Bielawski, Santa Cruz county." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

May 24, 1922: "On Mount Blaskawski, overlooking 2,000,000 acres of land in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, a fire protection and lookout station is now being erected under the direction of A.E. Frost, inspector of the state board of forestry." (San Francisco Chronicle)

June 29, 1922: "State Forester Pratt extends an invitation to the general public to be present at the flag raising on the fire lookout tower on Mt. Bielawski, on July 2, at 2 o'clock. This Lookout Tower, which is 60 feet in height, commands a view of a large portion of Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. It is connected by a telephone line 18 miles in length with Governor's camp, California Redwood park. A lookout man, Almon E. Smead, is located on this tower, and reports all fires to the fire wardens located in these three counties. He is under the general charge of District Ranger Oswald, whose headquarters are at Cupertino. The construction of this detection and reporting system is under the general charge of A.E. Frost, inspector, state board of forestry. Financial assistance in this work was rendered the state by San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Joaquin counties, the California Redwood Park commission and the state highway commission. At the time of the flag raising a radio outfit will be used. The loud speaker and amplifier will be furnished for the occasion by A.W. Templeton, Los Gatos. Mt. Bielawski can be readily reached by automobile from Saratoga. At the entrance to the California Redwood Park, at the top of the Saratoga grade will be found a sign pointing the way to the lookout station." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

July 3, 1922: " 'We dedicate this tower to the conservation of our Santa Cruz forests. May they long remain with us, our pride, our joy and our wealth.' This dedicatory message was silently wig-wagged to the world by the Santa Cruz Boy Scouts from the top of the new observation tower and lookout station on Mount Bielawski at the summit of the Santa Cruz range yesterday afternoon as the culminating act of a very appropriate program in which citizens and officials from Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties took park. The tower, situated on land given by Mr. and Mrs. Amos Smead for ninety-nine years at a dollar per year rental, is for the protection of the forest areas in the three counties and is operated by the state board of forestry with Amos Smead as lookout from June to November each year. Mr. Saunders of Saratoga was chairman of yesterday's ceremonies and about 250 persons were in attendance, the weather being delightful. The flag raising on the tower was in the hands of the Santa Cruz Boy Scouts." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

July 6, 1922: "State Forester Pratt extended an invitation to the general public to be present at the flag raising on the new fire lookout tower on Mt. Bielawski, on July 2nd. This lookout tower is 60 feet in height and commands a view of a large portion of Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. It is connected by a telephone line 18 miles in length with Governor's Camp of California Redwood Park. A lookout man is located on the tower and reports all fires to the Fire Wardens located in the three counties named above. Financial assistance in the construction of this detection and reporting system was rendered the State by San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Joaquin Counties, the California Redwood Park Commission and the State Highway Commission." (California District News Letter)

July 22, 1922: "The fire lookout on Mount Bielawski, the highest point on the Castle Rock ridge between Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, is the first structure of its kind which has through the efforts of the State Board of Forestry. This 60-foot steel tower, and the 18 miles of telephone line connecting it with the California Redwood Park in Big Basin, was made possible through financial cooperation extended by Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the State Highway Commission and the Redwood Park Commission. There is also a connection with the Los Gatos telephone line which was made by a three-mile line built by local ranchers in co-operation with the State Board of Forestry. The telephone line to the California Redwood Park was constructed and the lookout tower erected by state rangers under the supervision of Inspector Frost, State Board of Forestry. On July 2, 1922, the tower was dedicated." (Ninth Biennial Report of the State Board of Forestry of the State of California)

November 6, 1923: "State Forester M.B. Pratt has been served with papers in an injunction and damage suit in which he and two other state employes have been named defendants as the result of an action filed in the superior court of Santa Cruz county by Mrs. Serena C. Smead, owner of the land in the vicinity of the Mount Bielawski fire lookout station in the county of Santa Cruz. The plaintiff claims that the state officials have entered upon her land without her permission or consent and have destroyed or removed trees and shrubbery of the value of $1,000." (Bakersfield Californian)

May 31, 1924: "A report received from Forest Ranger Gillette, stationed at the lookout station on Mount Bielewski, at 2 0'clock this afternoon, states that the fire raging along the Saratoga road between that place and Redwood park in the Big Basin has been brought under control." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

May 11, 1929: "Mrs. Freda Crangle, 23, wife of John Crangle, state forest ranger for El Dorado county, shot and killed herself at the fire lookout station on Mount Bielawski, near Castle Rock, Santa Cruz county. Fred Herring, her father, in charge of the station, was in the lookout tower when the shot was fired." (Bakersfield Californian)

November 20, 1929: "Santa Cruz county today had survived another 24 hours without a disastrous forest fire styarting in the mountains, despite the 158 days without a rain here. A small blaze on Fall creek, near Ben Lomand, called State Forest Ranger George I. Gillette into action this morning, but it was quickly extinguished. The lookout station at Mount Bielawski this afternoon reported the smoke drifting over from the blazing timber on the coast slope back of Half Moon Bay so thick that Lookout Fred Herring was unable to tell if smoke was rising from any fires in Santa Cruz county." (Santa Cruz Evening News)

July 16, 1936: "The bodies of Barbara Herring and Jack Crangle, 11-year-old cousins, who died when they fell from a 75-foot precipice near Mt. Bielawski Lookout Station, lay in a mortuary here today while sorrowing relatives arranged funeral services for them. The children's bodies were brought from the foot of the cliff on stretchers yesterday after a crew, headed by Coroner P.J. Freeman, and composed of Ray Bloom, Ernie Frey and Harold Pampel, had to cut a trail through more than a mile of dense underbrush to get to them with litters. Freeman still held to his theory that the children were eating their lunch on the top of the cliff when the girl slipped over the side dragging the boy with her as he attempted to hold her. The children had been visiting their grandfather, Fred Herring, lookout at Mt. Bielawski. It was Herring who spotted their bodies with a flashlight Tuesday night." (Oakland Tribune)

July 1, 1957: "San Mateo county fire warden E.H. Werder says that tomorrow the thirty-fifth anniversary of Bielawski Lookout station, the first of its kind built and supported by the state, will be celebrated. Bielawski is a 60 foot steel tower atop the high point of Castle Rock ridge on the Santa Cruz-Santa Clara county line in the Big Basin Redwood area. For 35 consecutive fire seasons its lookouts have protected the area from disastrous forest blazes. The State Forest Service had almost no funds in those days and the cost of construction was borne by the two named counties, the State highway commission, and the California Redwood Park (Big Basin) commission. State Rangers performed the construction work during the winter and spring months." (San Mateo Times)